Secretive
by Realistic Fate
Summary: Emalline Amoletas is an almost-sixteen-year-old girl adoptee living in Atlanta, Georgia. Below average hight, with small, pointed ears and icy blue eyes, she seems impossibly normal. But things aren't always what they seem. A/H Obsessive. Wateva.
1. Chapter 1

_Summer breezes are_

_Warm and damp from recent rain._

_Wet grass under foot._

Ema finished her poem and laid down the notebook that she had taken to writing in. Brushing her damp, sticky hair out of her eyes, she knew that, if anything, her poem was an understatement. It had so far been the hottest July on record, and the recent drought hadn't helped at all. _Recent rain_, she mused. _I wish_. As for the breezes, they hadn't had a breeze since May, let alone a cool one.

She stood up and took two steps to the other side of the room to turn up the AC. Sighing in relief as the cold air passed over her face, she turned again and flopped onto her bed.

The bedding had been reduced to a set of cotton sheets, in respect of the unbelievably hot temperatures, though it hadn't helped much. Ema had woken up every night for the past four months in a cold sweat, although, she didn't know if this was because of the heat, or just some nightmare that she couldn't remember. Either way, waking up at two am every morning was beginning to have an effect on her usually happy personality. She stood up, as continuous inactivity was making her even more warm.

She looked into the small mirror hanging on the wall. Her shoulder-length auburn hair was ugly and matted with sweat, and her icy blue eyes stared back at her, almost curiously, as though asking her, _Woah, who are you and what have you done with Ema? _She smiled as the thought entered her mind. Sitting back down in her desk chair, she rubbed her small, slightly pointed ears, as she always did when she was deep in thought......

_I was adopted, I know that. Mom told me that years ago.....But then , who are my real parents? And why did they give me away? Didn't they want me? Well, obviously, or I'd still be living with them, wouldn't I? Or maybe.....or maybe it was like Romeo and Juliet, that they weren't supposed to see each other, and when I was born, they had to cover it up! Or maybe, my mother died after I was born, and my dad, mad with grief, killed himself! Or maybe Mom died and he couldn't stand to look at me, because I reminded him too much of Mom! Or even the other way around! Or maybe-_

Ema's thoughts were cut short by someone shaking her by the shoulder. Her adopted mother stood in front of her, tapping her toe impatiently, as if she had been trying to wake Ema from her trance for quite a while."Ema! Didn't you hear me? I said that dinner's ready! Don't you want to eat?" Ema suddenly had a strange urge to laugh. Either she was going delirious from the heat, or her mom looked slightly comical when she was angry or annoyed. Her mother, seeing to tell that something was ammusing her, turned an even darker shade of red. "This isn't funny, young lady! I don't appreciate being ignored!"Ema stifflled her laughter and, attempting to keep a straight face, and failing, replied, "Sorry, Mom. I was thinking about my writing." At that, her mother's expression softned slightly. She took a high regard of her adopted daughter's talent for writing, and thought that her stories and poems were true works of art."Alright, Ema. I'm sorry that I snapped at try to pay more attention to what people are saying from now on, alright?"Ema grinned, and said, "Okay, Mom. I'll try." And with that, she walked down the stairs to dinner, still grinning, although, she was not particularly looking forward to another meal of dry pasta and, maybe, a limp salad.

Major Holly Short was, at that particular moment, not enjoying her job very much. _Paperwork, paperwork, PAPERWORK! ARRG! I can't believe that I actually agreed to that stupid promotion._"That Stupid Promotion" had taken place almost fifteen years to the day. A lot had happened within those fifteen years that had give Holly any reason to be any more friendly than she was today.

She heard a noise behind her chair, and, without thinking, spun around and punched the intruder squarely between the eyes. She was feeling quite proud of herself, and was about to start yelling at them for not knocking before entering her office, when she noticed who it was that she had just was Trouble."Geez, Holly. Do you think that you could refrain from punching everyone who walks in the door?" Trouble muttered, gingerly rubbing the large, egg-sized lump that was developing on his 's face had flushed a deep shade of crimson. She jumped off her chair and knelt beside Trouble. She pressed her fingers to the lump and whispered , "_Heal,_" as softly as she could. The lump vanished instantly, but, to her dismay, her embarrassment remained. "Oh my God, Trouble, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?"Trouble laughed. "Well, I'm conscious, so that's good!" Holly stood and helped him up."So...Why are you here? Or did you just come to say hello?" Holly asked, trying to smile, but her exhaustion won over, and she laid her forehead against his put his arm around her shoulder. "Nope. Foaly sent me to get you. He said that he found a pretty strange human..." His voice seemed to get softer as her said those words. Holly groaned. If someone found out....No. That would be impossible. Wouldn't it?And those same words seemed to echo around her mind as Trouble led her towards the OPS Center.

_Wouldn't it? Wouldn't it? Wouldn't it?__Wouldn't it? _

**A/N okay, first chapter, and I think that I don't really like this whole editing thing. God, I hate my computer. Please, no flames, but critique is welcome.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Foaly, what's going on?" Holly said nervously as her and Trouble entered the OPS Center. Nobody had noticed this for almost 15 years now. Why, all of a sudden, was it standing out so much? This can't be happening, she thought. No one can find out.

Foaly wasn't looking nearly as desperate as Holly or Trouble. In fact, he was looking particularly entertained."We picked up a strong frequency of concentrated magic in the southern U.S. I was wondering if you two could go check it out. Whoever's doing it seems to be pretty young, though, maybe 14 or 15 years."

"S-s-sure," Holly stuttered. "W-w-we'd love t-to."

"Y-y-yeah."

Foaly seemed to suspect that something was wrong. "Are you guys ok? Holly, you're going green." Holly's face was indeed going a deep shade of emerald. She swallowed hard to keep herself from puking all over the silver linoleum floor.

"I-I-I'm F-fine. J-just tired." She swallowed again, and was able to look up from the ground. Foaly decided to just accept her lie. He had know both Holly and Trouble since they had been kids, and he was fairly apt at telling when they were lying. "When should we go?" Holly said after a periodic cleared his throat.

"Um, right now would be good." Was nervousness infectious? Brushing away the question before he accidentally said it out loud, he led the nervous group away.

* * *

Ema, as usual, didn't sleep very well that night. Her dreams had been filled with weird animals that had wanted to eat her, but were too thirsty to chase after her. Sitting up, she realized that she wasn't even on her bed anymore; She was laying on the floor, tangled up in her sheet as though she had just tried to wreasle with it. She jumped up as quickly as she could, and began to untie the sheet from her ankle. After almost twenty minutes, she gave up and dragged it over to the window with her. Staring out at the darkened street, she allowed her mind to drift once again.....

_I wish something exciting would happen in my life. It's so boring being me. Even babysitting the twins has gotten boring lately. (Though it's still a form of torture not yet punishable by law) What I wouldn't give for some excitement...._Ema sighed and looked out at her reflection in the mirror-like window.....

_That's weird, _she thought_. I thought my hair was longer than that. And messier. And I was sure that I put my glasses on._ She put her hand to her face, and when the reflection didn't follow, she realized with horror that she wasn't even looking at herself anymore. She was staring out at a completely different person.

Ema screamed.


	3. Chapter 3

"Dammit, Holly! Weren't you shielded?" Trouble hissed at her. Holly quickly shielded.

"It's three am! I thought she'd be asleep!"

Trouble rolled his eyes. "Holly, she's a fairy! She'll be most awake at night!"

Holly turned on her communicator, tuning it into Foaly's frequencies. "What should we do, Foaly? Do we leave her there, or bring her down for questioning?" She was silently hoping that he'd tell them to leave the kid there. She didn't need that kind of problem right now...

"Better bring her down, Holls. we have to see how much she knows." Holly swore under her breath. Foaly heard. "What's gotten into you, Holly? You don't seem yourself."

Holly grit her teeth. "I'm fine, Foaly. Lets just get this over with." This was doing nothing to help her high blood pressure.

* * *

Ema couldn't remember a time when she'd been more scared_. Someone_ had been looking in through her window, _someone_ who looked a lot like herself. _What the heck is going on?_ she thought to herself. _Are they trying to break in?_ This idea seemed probable.

Slowly and carefully, she made her way across the room. She walked as slowly as she possibly could, afraid of what she might see on the other side, but it was a small room, and it wasn't long before she came to the dark window.

Taking a deep breath, Ema pushed open the window and leaned out. What she saw made her jaw drop almost all the way to the ground.

Two humanoid...._things_....were squatting outside her window. They were both dressed in the same green uniforms, though one of them was obviously female. The female one had her helmet in her hands, her short auburn hair glistening with sweat. The two of them appeared to be arguing about something.

"We should use the sleeper.."

"But she's already awake!"

"Do _you _to tranquilize her?"

"No! Why would I!"

_This is probably the stupidest thing I have ever done,_ Ema thought. She yelled down at the two people, "Hey, you! What the heck are you two doing in my yard?"

The female looked up at her, and seemed to sigh. She hefted what appeared to be a rather large gun, and pulled the trigger.

A sharp pain pierced Ema's shoulder, and she felt her consciousness started to leave her. The female floated up to her and, as she wrapped her in a transparent, water-like fabric, she whispered into two simple words into Ema's ear.

_"I'm sorry."_

**(A/N okay, the last two chapters were really short, so I put two up at once. happy? good. Hopefully they were better than the first chapter. R&R)**


	4. Chapter 4

Ok, I know that my last couple of chapters have been kind of short (no pun intended), but, honestly....I really suck at writing long chapters. I think the longest thing that I have ever written was probably an essay on Komodo Dragons that I did for extra credit.

Anyway, I own nothing and nobody in this story, besides Ema and her adopted family, of course.

………………………………................................................................................................

Ema's vision came into focus slowly. As it did, her subconscious mind registered only a few facts of her surroundings; The walls were painted in a pale blue, a color that Ema despised, she was dressed in a pair of too-small-jeans that rose well past her ankles, and, by placing her hand to her forehead, she noticed that her temperature was at least thirty degrees above normal.

The small amount of consciousness that she possessed noticed a slight movement in the corner of the small children's room. She rolled over to face it, and forced herself to stand. "Who are you," she said, struggling to keep her voice from being slurred. "And why did you bring me here?" _Wherever here is,_ she added miserably in her mind, but she refrained from saying it out loud.

The air in the corner seemed to shimmer, and the extremely small woman appeared. At the time, Ema didn't really give it any thought that she had appeared out of thin air, but it would vaguely cross her mind later on.

The woman, the same one who had shot the dart at Ema, was even stranger up close; She had short auburn hair, hazel eyes, and pointed ears, which were strangely similar to Ema's own features. She was no longer dressed in the green uniform Ema had seen her in before, instead opting for a pair of gray sweats and a white T-shirt. She was short, but she was obviously an adult.

"Well, well. The sleeper awakes." Through her blurry eyes, Ema could have sworn that she was smiling.

"First of all, there's no need to be cliché. Second, why did you kidnap me?"

"Strait to the point, eh? God, you're so much like your dad, it's funny. Anyway, technically, we didn't kidnap you." Ema, not someone who liked to be out-smarted, got into full lecture mode.

"In criminal law, sometimes called penal law, kidnapping is defined as the removal or asporation of a person against the person's will, holding the person in false imprisonment, and without legal authority. In a child's case, child referred to as under eighteen years of age, even consent by the child is considered kidnapping, if done without parental or legal guardian consent."

The woman threw up her hands in desperation. "Great! Another child genius! Honestly, did you _swallow_ textbook?" She took a deep breath and continued. "And you just proved my point. We _didn't _kidnap you. We had legal authority."

Ema stared, dumbstruck, at the woman. "Who _are_ you?" Usually, after one of Ema's lectures, the person being lecture was either being sent to a mental facility, or they were cowering on the floor. _Sarcasm_ was a new reaction.

She smiled. "Major Holly Short of the LEPrecon, at your service." She gave a mock bow.

"What's the LEPrecon? Is that some kind of police force? What does LEP stand for? And why does your name sound so familiar?" Ema hadn't meant to say the last one out loud, but it had slipped out before she could stop it.

"I think that my name sounds familiar to you because you've heard of me before. Do I look familiar?" Ema knew that Holly was humouring her, but she thought about the question anyway. There had never been a question asked that Ema could deign trying to answer. She felt as though memories that had been long ago suppressed were awakening. The glimmer of a smile, a name mentioned once or twice, letters that her mother had received periodically since she had adopted Ema, when she had been less than a year old. And then, Ema found the answer. Though it was hidden among dusty memories filled with dirty diapers and puréed carrots, it was still there, and Ema rarely forgot anything.

"Are you my mother?"


	5. Chapter 5

Ok, this took me a really long time to write, almost a week, and I'm slightly disappointed in myself that I didn't come up with anything better. I hope you like it!

Ema spent the next few days doing what she did best: Research. She managed to resurrect Holly's old computer, which she was told hadn't been used in over a decade, and began to dissect the People, and Holly's life, bit by bit. It didn't take her long to find out that she wasn't even on Earth anymore; she was under it.

"So, LEP stands for 'Lower Elements Police'?" "Is it true that you brought back the first live Troll in over a century?" "Who's Artemis Fowl?"

Ema pestered Holly with questions about her past, and, with each story told, she couldn't help but feel a small sense of pride. It was obvious that her mother had been, and still was, one of the most valuable officers on the force. It was quite a change from a mother who sold legal insurance.

Holly still hadn't told her who her father was, though she assumed that her was Trouble, Holly's husband, although she shared none of his features.

Looking in the mirror, Ema could now define most of her features as her mother's; her auburn hair, her thin nose, her plump lips, her athletic disposition. But her skin was milk white, her figures long and spindly, and her pale blue eyes were like snow when compared with Holly or Trouble's deep brown irises.

Though everything in the Lower Elements was written in gnomish, it didn't take Ema very long to figure it out. It was as though it was a language she had once known, but had forgotten. This was a strange notion, as she had been adopted before she was even a year old, and she was sure that there was nowhere that she could have picked it up since then.

The computer was a far more simple matter. Ema had always been good with electronics, ever since she had built her first hard drive at the age of two years, and had been shocked to see a computer, albeit an extremely advanced computer, in such derelict and mistreated condition. But after a few days of non-stop updating, even Foaly, the centaur who occasionally visited the kelp household, had been impressed.

Ema was also a bit of a snoop, although she disliked that particular term; she preferred "curious". On her third day in Haven, when she was sure that she knew pretty much everything that she could learn from the computer, she decided to start exploring the flat. Or, at least, the multiple files and papers that resided, gathering dust, on shelves in the closets. The flat itself was so messy, Ema suspected that the last time it had been thoroughly cleaned had been well before she herself had been born.

Ema decide to start in the closet in her own tiny room. The contence spilt over the floor, and Ema thought that, even if she wasn't able to find anything of interest, she would at least be able to clean it u a bit. And so Ema, who hated cleaning beyond all else, rolled up her sleeves and got to work.

........

In truth, Ema was only really trying to pass the time until she could find a way to get back to her real family, the one in Brookhaven. The day before, Ema had managed to locate the clothes she had been wearing the night she had met Holly. As amazed as she was to find them, she was even more surprised to find that her emergency credit card, the one that she had received for her fourteenth birthday, was hidden in the lining of the back pocket of her shorts. It didn't take her long to find the shuttle that stopped closest to her home in Brookhaven, the E72 port, which was only five minutes from her house. It was close enough to walk, which was good, as she wasn't sure that she had enough cash to take a taxis. She tried to call her mother multiple times, although, each time she tried, the operator kept on asking her whether or not her mother knew that she was trying to make such a long-distance call. Ema ended up slamming the phone down each time.

Ema desperately missed her family. She missed her mother's exotic cooking, and the way she would braid her daughters' hair before they went to bed. She missed her father's laugh, and the way that he could make up insanely funny stories off the top of his head. If she tried hard enough, she could even find it in her heart to miss the twins, Noah and Katherine, despite their annoying habits, such as biting and stuffing cookies into the disk drive on your computer right when you needed it the most.

Ema, who had once fantasized about who her real parents were, no longer wanted anything to do with them. Things that she had once scorned, such as fairies and centaurs and elves, were now all too real, and it was fairly creepy. The things that she had once believed only existed in bedtime stories were now living down the hall from her, and she wished that they would go back to the books, literally.

........

Ema stood on her tip-toes, trying to reach the last box on the shelf. She'd been working on her closet most of the morning...or night.....or...Figuring out the time in Haven was giving her a migraine. Days for Humans were nights for Fairies, and vice versa.

Ema had been amazed by how easy it was for her to reach everything . At home, she was way under height for an almost-sixteen-year-old, but here, she was almost a half-foot over average.

She finally grabbed onto the box and pulled it down- and unfortunately tipping it over in the process, spilling it's contense over the floor. Cursing herself silently, Ema bent down to clean up the new mess.

A dark green sheet of paper stood out among the others. Ema, being as "curious" as she was, couldn't help but lean over and snatch it from the pile. She quickly figured out that it was a birth certificate; In fact, her own birth certificate. Ema stared at it amazement. Her adopted mother had a copy of it, of course, but, for some reason, holding the original copy in her hands and reading the ornate golden lettering made her feel oddly happy and content.

Ema set the page aside and continued to sift through the mess. She realized the most of the papers were photographs, fading with age. Ema set a few of them aside as well, including a fading picture of Holly holding a small baby with flaming red hair. Ema knew from other photos, and from the note written on the back, that the baby was herself. Her infant self was grinning broadly at the camera, and even Holly was smiling. Ema tried to remember the last time that she had been that happy. The last meal that she had eaten with her family, she thought sadly. When Katherine had somehow managed to push a noodle up her nose, and Noah had laughed so hard that he gotten into coughing fit. Ema had to smile at that image framed in her mind; It was hard not to laugh at the sight of a five year old girl with linguini sticking out of her right nostril.

A small stack of paper, tied with a string, caught Ema's eye. Her curiosity overwhelming her self-control, she grabbed it, untied it, and took the top one from the pile. She opened the fold and began to read.

It was a letter. It didn't take a genius to figure that much out. The date in the right-hand corner read May 5th, 2010 , a little over eight months before Ema herself had been born. Ema scanned it quickly, her smile fading more and more with every word. She wanted to stop reading from the "Dear Artemis," introduction, to the closing, "Love, Holly", but the words were engraved in her mind; She couldn't stop.

Why did her life have to be so complicated? Why couldn't it be simple, like it used to be?

She flung the letter across the room and grabbed the bag that she had packed her things in. Credit card shoved in her back pocket yet again, Ema yanked open the door, but stopped to take one last look around the room. She shook herself free of remorse, and her anger took over again. She stomped out of her room, down the hall, and out the front door, slightly disappointed that nobody tried to stop her.


	6. Chapter 6

Trouble opened the front door quietly, and let it fall closed behind him. He had always gotten home before Holly, and it was one of his favourite times of day; it was the only time that he could watch what he wanted on TV without it resulting in a fistfight over the remote.

His time alone hadn't been made awkward by Ema's temporary presence; their daughter tended to keep more to herself. But all the same, he thought that he should at least let her know that he was home. It was only common courtesy.

"Ema! I'm home!" he called down the hallway. His voice was met with silence. "Ema! Are you there?" Again, silence.

He made his way down the hallway. She must have fallen asleep, Trouble thought. The poor girl had had trouble adjusting to the Haven time zone. Though, he had to admit, it had to be hard to keep up with your sleep when night and day were reversed.

He pushed open Ema's bedroom door, fully prepared to find the small elf collapsed on her bed. He wasn't expecting to see a large mound of papers scattered across the floor, from wall to wall like some kind of abstract carpet.

So, she was gone. He had no idea why, but it didn't surprise him. He knew that she hadn't found Haven as amazing as Holly thought she would. It had been too strange for her, he could understand that.

The larges stack of papers caught his eye. He hadn't been through these in years, not since he and Holly had been married. Over sixteen years now. He grabbed the top one, which was laying face down, scrunched into a ball. He carefully unfolded the page, trying not to tear it. His eyes scanned over the page, speeding up with every word, until they were nothing but a blur.

Anger ripped through him like a wild animal. The small part of his brain that was still functioning logically noted that it had always been there, just waiting to come out. His vision was tinted with red. He stormed out of the bedroom, down the hall, and out the front door, just like his so-called daughter had only a few hours before.

Holly had some explaining to do.

Ema made it to the surface only an hour before dawn. She exited the shuttle port as quickly as possible, desperate to escape the stares that followed her wherever she went.

She stumbled down the streets, only barely registering where she was going. Her mind was too preoccupied to notice much more than that. She hated being lied to, and this was one of the biggest lies she had ever been told. Worse than the time that her mother told her that her dead hamster had run away, worse that the tooth fairy story, or even Santa Claus.

Thunder growled above her like a hungry animal, and a sudden downpour drenched her to the bone. Great. After months of drought, it decides to rain the one day that she actually wanted it to stay dry. Just perfect. She glared at the sky as if she could stop the torrent with a look.

Ema broke into a run, ignoring the tiny backpack bouncing on her shoulders, the pouring rain, the cat-calls from the sides of the down-town streets. As she turned down one alley, her toe caught in a crack, sending her sprawling on the pavement. Both her knees and hands were grazed, drops of blood congealing on the wounds. But as she watched, the cuts began to close. Within a second, the scrapes looked days, rather than minutes, old, and soon there was nothing left at all. "Huh," Ema muttered to herself. "I guess I've got more magic in me than I thought." For some reason this realisation made her smile, in spite of her predicament. She didn't feel quite as helpless now.

She stood back up, brushing as much dirt as she could. Her clothes we're completely soaked through but she didn't really notice. Her eyes were almost shut to the downpour, so her ears were working overtime.

A soft beeping suddenly caught her notice. Too soft to be a bomb, so she had no idea what it was. It was close, so close....so close that it could be in her bag. She flung it off her shoulders and dug around in it. She found what she was looking for fairy quickly; a tiny red light, the size of a small button, glowed in her hand. A tracker.

Wonderful. Now they knew exactly where she was. Ema's brain was racing at a million miles an hour. How could she get rid of the thing? Then it hit her. Two could play at this game.

It didn't take her long to find who she was looking for. Homeless people were everywhere. Ema clipped the tracker to a quarter and threw it into the woman's mug. She smiled crookedly at Ema, apparently not noticing the soft red light that pulsated on the coin. All the better.

Ema walked for another ten minutes in the rain before her house came into view. She was suddenly overcome by fear. What would she say? She'd been missing for almost a week! Her parents would be hysterical. But there was nothing for it; she couldn't turn back now.

She found the key hidden in its usual spot, a small nook that had been in the wall for as long as Ema could remember. Pushing the key into the lock, Ema took a last deep breath and sighed, turning the door knob and letting herself in.

Her first thoughts were ones of happiness. She had finally made it home! But them she heard the sniffling sobs coming from the living room, and walked quickly to the source of the sounds.

It took her mind longer than usual to register the scene before her. Maybe 4.5 seconds. She was stunned. Across the room, with her back to Ema, her mother sat sniffling into a handkerchief. Katherine was curled up next to her, bawling her eyes out, though it was obvious that she didn't really know what was going on. How do you explain to a five-year-old that her older sister has been kidnapped?

Suddenly, Katherine sat bolt upright and looked at Ema like she had never seen her before. "EMA!" she shrieked, and jumped off the couch and into Ema's arms. Their mother spun around so fast that Ema could have sworn that she heard her neck crack. She looked like she too could have jumped right off the end of the couch, but she instead opted for a slightly more dignified run around the couch.

"Oh, Ema, baby, where have you been?" she blubbered. Katherine hung off of Ema's leg, yelling to whoever cared to listen, "Ema's home! Ema's home!"

Ema found that she couldn't answer. She usually didn't cry. It wasn't very intelligent looking when she did. But, at that moment, she found herself blubbering almost as much as her mother. Her dad came down the stairs, along with Noah, and they joined the now overpowering hug.

And for that short moment, all was right with the world.

Holly sat quietly at her desk, staring at the computer screen, but not really seeing what was typed there. It was a report that Foaly had sent her, and it couldn't tell her anything that she didn't already know. Her eyes were clouded over with the memories that she had tried so hard to repress. It's that past, Hols, she told herself angrily. You can't change that past.

Though, if she was perfectly honest with herself, she wasn't sure that she would want to change that particular memory.

A loud rap on her office door managed to startle her out of her daydream. Hand over her heart, she spun around in her chair and managed to croak out a strangled, "Come in."

The door swung open, and there stood Trouble. A confused smile crossed Holly's face. Hadn't he left over an hour ago? Then she read his expression.

His face was lividly angry; jaw set, teeth clenched, hands balled into fists. But his eyes betrayed him. They were hurt eyes, the eyes of a man who had just found out...No, he can't have, Holly thought desperately. It's something else, anything else....

He took a step towards her and unfurled his fist. For a moment, Holly thought that he was going to hit her, but what was in his hand hit her harder than any physical blow could have. Anything physical would heal. But this....Holly didn't know.

She remembered the letter before she even touched it. She remembered how carefully she had chosen the stationary, trying to find something to suit the letter's contence. This was only a photocopy, of course; Artemis would have received the original over sixteen years ago.

Hands shaking, she reached over and snatched the page, as if having it back would make him forget about it.

"Why, Hols? Why didn't you tell me?" His voice was hardly more than a choked whisper.

"I had to! I couldn't abort her, but I couldn't tell you the truth, either." Holly's eyes flooded with fresh, burning tears. Idiocy tears.

"So you made me to believe that she was mine, and then write a letter to the Mud Idiot explaining everything, huh? Wow, Holly, that's just brilliant!" His words were like knives, each one cutting a deep wound.

"I'm so sorry," Holy whispered. She stared at the ground, watching the small round circles her tears made on the bland beige carpet. "So, so sorry."

"I love you, Holly, but do you love me?" It was more of a plea than a question, and Holly jumped at that open window, sticking her head through. "I do love you!" she cried, tears still streaming down her face.

But Trouble slammed the metaphorical window shut on her neck. He swung around and looked over his shoulder at her, his hand on the door knob. "I wish I could believe you, Holly. I really wish that I could." He flung something at the floor, stepped into the hallway and slammed the door shut behind him, leaving Holly alone in the dark office. She bent down to pick up what Trouble had flung on the floor, and felt her knew weaken when she saw what it was. She sat down right where she was on the floor and cried.

It was a thin gold band, the ring that Trouble hadn't taken off since their wedding over sixteen years ago.


	7. Chapter 7

It was dark in Ema's world. As the ending summer slowly started to darken the perfect blue sky, identical to the blue of Ema's eyes, she felt as if a cloud had settled on her heart, too. Maybe there was one thing that could help, one person that she wanted to meet. But how was she going to get all the way over to Ireland?

It was at breakfast one morning that her parents decided to bring up the topic of the family's upcoming vacation. For as long as Ema could remember, her parents had taken her and her siblings on an insane vacation to celebrate the last few weeks of summer. They had only ever missed on of these trips, the one that was meant to take place the summer that Noah and Katherine were born.

Ema sat at the table, wrapped tighter than a burrito in a thick quilt, stirring the flakes in the bowl that her mother had placed in front of her. She wasn't really to keen on eating, because of what she was about to ask her parents. She tried not to care; She tried to care about nothing but getting to Dublin International Airport by the end of the week.

She felt a gentle tap on her shoulder, and gladly dropped the unused spoon into the bowl, making a soft clinking sound as metal touched glass. Turning around to meet her mother's guilty face, she could have laughed, if she had been so inclined; it was the same face she had worn the day she had told a younger, happier Ema that she was going to have two new siblings.

"Ema, dear…." Mrs. Amoletas said slowly, choosing her words carefully. "Well, you know that we usually take a trip around this time of year, and, well, we'd already bought the tickets when you…urm…left, and we didn't want it to go to waste, so….." She didn't need to finish. She held out the ticket to her daughter, and smiled sheepishly. "We weren't sure that you'd actually want to go." Ema looked at the small, insignificant slip of paper that her mother had just handed her. And when she read the destination, her heart skipped a beat, then sped up, beating harder and faster than it ever had before. Maybe she would be alright; the ticket to happiness lay in her hand, and the shores were in sight. The cloud lifted.

"We're going to Ireland?!"

********

It was at breakfast on her third day in Ireland that Ema brought up the topic she had been meaning to ask for days. So, she took a deep breath, willed herself not to stutter. She had always been horrible at lying. She brushed her hair out of her eyes, which immediately caught her parents' attention.

"Umm, I was wondering…"Ema began slowly. She didn't like being the center of attention. "Well, could I possibly go out by myself today? I mean," She added quickly at the sight of her mother's expression. "Just for a while. Not all day, of course." She crossed her fingers under the table, for she didn't actually know how long she was going to be.

Her mother seemed wary about letting her now sixteen-year-old daughter roam around Dublin on her own (She needn't have worried; Ema wasn't planning on roaming Dublin at all), but her father just nodded, without even looking up from his paper. Ema would never be sure if he was actually listening or not. "Sure, go have fun…" He turned to the sports section, and was instantly gone. Ema stood, grinning ear to ear, and nearly forgot to uncross her fingers. "Just be back by lunch." He added, as an after-thought, but Ema was already out the door.

She hailed a cab from the side of the road, the motion of this taking nearly ten minutes. The cab she finally managed to hail was an old, beat-up looking monstrosity of a vehicle, which, Ema thought, had probably failed every safety requirement known to man, but she didn't care. She climbed in, and was greeted by the toothless smile of an old, bald man, his sparse hair combed over his scalp, as if this made him handsome, or something. Ema groaned internally, but she knew that if she waited for another cab, she could be there all day. She decided that bearing it, if not grinning in the process, was the best course of action.

"I need to get to Fowl Manor," Ema stated. She knew that she didn't have to elaborate; the Manor was one of the most historic buildings in Ireland.

The cabbie's face blanched, and Ema could understand why; Fowl Manor was also reputable for being one of the most haunted houses in Ireland. "W-w-why d'you wanna go there?" The cabbie's voice broke. Ema could have laughed, but she held it in.

"Relations," she said simply. This got the reaction that she was looking for. The cabbie didn't ask more questions, obviously thinking that Ema was some kind of under-cover billionaire come home to visit her rich family, despite her jeans and plain T-shirt. Ema knew that she only had enough money to get there by cab, and she had no idea on how she would ever get back.

********

The cabbie dropped Ema at the base of the hill on which Fowl Manor lay, a towering menace, and sped away without another glance behind him. Probably off to tell all of his cab-driving friends that he had carried the heir to the Fowl fortune, or the daughter of some Earl, Ema thought with a cold smile. Oh, how far from the truth he was, the reality being a regular American teenager, albeit an extremely smart teenager with very odd parentage, off to see a father who, in all honesty, probably didn't even know she existed. How normal.

Ema turned towards the hill she was going to have to climb, grimaced, and began her trudge up the hill. This molehill was defiantly beginning to seem like a mountain.

********

Artemis Fowl felt as though he were in a rut. He rarely left his study these days, rarely spoke to his wife, or anyone in general. The family funds were lower than usual, and he had had to fire almost half of his staff just to stay afloat. In a brief summary, the game of cards that is life hadn't dealt the Irishman the best hand.

He now sat at his desk, staring at the computer monitor as if his dull glare could somehow change the greatly diminished numbers that were shown in the Fowl bank account; Artemis had learned the hard way that marriage was not the best thing in the world for finances, especially when your wife was the most stubborn, spoiled brat ever to roam the greater Irish countryside.

Suddenly, Artemis was jolted out of his state of miserable self-pity by a quiet knock on the door. Without waiting for a reply from inside the so-called "private" study, Melanie Fowl burst into the room. A tall, beautiful blond woman, She appeared extremely young for her true age of thirty-four. "Arty, there's a little girl at the gate, asking for you. She says that it's important," The Spanish woman gushed. "I told her that you don't do school interviews, but she says that it's not for an interview. She looked about ten years old, with bright red hair. Said her name was Holly something-or-other. Do you know her?"

Artemis leapt put of his seat with a huge smile on his face, and Melanie looked a little put out at his reaction; she often enjoyed watching people being thrown out of the grounds. But Artemis didn't care what she thought, because, after all these years, Holly had come to see him. Sure, he had spoken to her many times over the past sixteen years, but not once had she come above ground, refusing every invitation politely by saying that she was too busy with work. And now she was standing at the gate, waiting to be let in. "Urm, let her in," Artemis said awkwardly after noticing that he had literally jumped for joy. He sat back down and smoothed his suit down while Melanie left the study, pouting ever so slightly; She was so used to getting what she wanted. The door slammed behind her.

Artemis felt light-headed. H couldn't help but remembering the last time that Holly had come for a visit, and what it resulted in. The letter was still on the bottom of his desk drawer, where he had stuffed it after reading it for what must have been the billionth time in the sixteen years since he had received it from a very confused postman. Artemis had thought the look on the poor man's face (after he had held what he must have thought was a post bomb for a few hours) was hilarious, but after reading the contence of the letter, he hadn't been to eager to laugh. "She must have been wrong," Artemis thought. "It must have been Kelp's child. Otherwise she never would have com back." It was true that Holly had never mentioned anything about it after the fact.

Another knock on the door startled him again. This was more visitors than his study usually had in a week, and it had only been ten minutes! "Come in!" Artemis said in a voice that was probably louder and higher-pitched than it need be. To keep himself from saying something even more stupid, he quickly took a sip of the Earl Grey tea that had been growing cold on his desk for the past hour

The door opened, and Artemis nearly gagged on his tea. For the girl that stood in the doorway, though she was a tiny red-head, was definitely not Holly Short.

********

As the tall woman led her through the grand halls of the Manor, Ema couldn't help but enjoy the sights that the age-old building offered; It had more priceless art than any art museum she had ever been in had, and the ancient structure itself was fascinating to someone like Ema. Still, neither the beautiful art nor the architecture could keep her from being slightly afraid of what she was about to do. And she hadn't been entirely truthful when she had said that her name was Holly Short. Okay, not really truthful at all, but the other sounded slightly less villainous.

They went up two flights of stairs, and were soon outside the door of the study. The woman knocked on the door, two soft raps, and then turned to Ema. "I'll leave you two alone, then. He seemed awfully glad to hear that it was you." She looked at Ema reproachfully, as though she were committing a horrendous crime. Then she spun around and marched back down the marble-tiled hallway just as the person inside the room shouted, "Come In!" in a rather high-pitched voice. Ema felt as though her knees were about to buckle from under her. Knowing that she was about to chicken out, and knowing that she couldn't, made her push open the door as fast as she could.

********

Artemis's heart sank as quickly as it had risen. Of course Holly wouldn't have come. Why, after all these years, would she have chosen today to come? He felt as though he would cry.

But then the anger set in. How dare this stupid little girl come here, pretending to be Holly Short to get inside the strong walls of the Manor. Though, she did look a bit like Holly; In fact, she looked a lot like Holly. Perhaps this was Holly's daughter. As he looked closer, he realized that she was obviously an elf; despite her height, her pointed ears gave it away. Her eyes were covered my sunglasses, so he couldn't see if in fact they were the same beautiful hazel colour.

He realized that he had been staring at the child for over a minute, with neither of them making a sound. He decided to break the awkward silence. "Who are you?" Okay, not the best way to greet a stranger, but he felt that it was appropriate for someone who had just managed to infiltrate the best security system money could buy by pretending to be someone that she wasn't.

The girl had to think for a minute. "Well….I guess I have two names…My adopted name is Emalline Amoletas, but my birth name was…."She paused again, as though the information she was about to give was slightly embarrassing. "Artemis Short." Her thin, pale face gave a soft pink glow, while Artemis felt his own face blanch.

"Is Holly your mother?" Artemis asked, after another rather awkward silence. It seemed like an odd question, but he was just trying to make conversation.

"Yes, if you could call her that." Emalline's voice became cold at the mention of her mother. Artemis thought of what she had said before…Adopted….So Holly had put her up for adoption, then. No wonder she was cold.

"So your father is….Kelp?" Artemis managed to get out. He knew that, had he tried to say his first name, he would have lost all uncaring abilities.

She didn't say anything this time; she merely shook her head and reached up to remove her glasses, and Artemis knew immediately who she was. He gasped. "H-h-how old are you?" he asked in a now shaky voice. All dignity gone.

Emalline sighed. "I just turned sixteen."

Artemis added it up, and the total nearly knocked him off of his chair. This wasn't real. Holly had been wrong. She wasn't here. This girl wasn't here. Not possible. He couldn't have a child!

But yet she stood there, her long, tapered fingers brushing her auburn hair from her milky white face, and her blue eyes. Perfect, sapphire-blue.

And he could have stood there forever, staring into the girl's eyes, his own eyes, copied exactly into her face.

The eyes of his daughter.

(A/N Haha. I am soooo evil. Anyhoo, I can promise those of you that care that this is NOT, I repeat NOT the end of the story. Yes, it's the end of Secritive, but there are actually two more stories in this series, and they just get better. (really, the third is the best) Anyway, I hape you enjoyed this, and the next instalment, Unknown, Will be up as soon as I can get it there! Lots of love to those who reviewed,

T. E. C.


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